This is a non-commercial fanfic based on the universes of The Witcher and Disco Elysium. All rights to the original works, characters, names, and elements of their respective worlds belong to their respective copyright holders. The author of this fanfic does not claim ownership of any of them. Age rating: rated R (18+). The text contains profanity, alcohol, fictional drugs, violence, and other themes intended for an adult audience.
“Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful!”
— Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
NARRATOR – The door closes behind you. You descend the creaking stairs, pass the wary landlady, and finally step outside. A cool wind immediately hits your face, carrying away the last traces of warmth, sandalwood, and orange oil. For several moments, you stand beneath the awning in silence, looking out over the half-empty square.
ARTISTRY [Challenging: Success] – It smells of damp earth, wet stone, and something else — something impossible to name, barely perceptible, as though somewhere nearby a stove is burning, clothes are drying, a kettle is being put on, and someone is waiting for somebody to finally come home.
UMBRA [Medium: Success] – Strange. After everything you’ve just heard, this quiet quarter somehow feels almost cozy.
NARRATOR – Roche is the first to break the silence. He thoughtfully flips through his notebook, as though hoping to find the final answer somewhere between its pages.
VERNON ROCHE – I admit, I still have doubts about whether we should have let her remain free.
YOU – I think it was the right choice. Though you know, Vernon… I never did manage to read her. Karmen kept playing us for fools until we seriously threatened her with arrest.
VERNON ROCHE – Exactly. Worse, we still have no idea which parts of her story were true. Still, the story about an unregistered sorceress sounds plausible enough and explains some of the stranger details.
NARRATOR – He snaps the notebook shut.
VERNON ROCHE – Which means we’ll have to speak with pan Grave again. Gods know I’d rather stay as far away from his den as possible, but we have no choice. We need to find out everything he knows about Elżbieta Nox.
NARRATOR – You leave Fountain Square behind and once again venture into the cramped streets of the Temple Quarter. The rain grows heavier. Water runs off the sloping roofs, drums against wooden awnings, and turns the mud underfoot into a thick, sticky mess.
RESOLVE [Easy: Failure] – Ugh, when is this damn rain going to stop…
NARRATOR – The same thug in dark clothes is standing guard by the entrance, his back against the wall. The moment he sees you, he rolls his eyes in misery, as though you’ve come back solely to ruin what little remains of his day.
GRAVE’S THUG – Boss ain’t seeing anyone today. Piss off.
YOU – We need to speak with him. It’s urgent!..
GRAVE’S THUG – Hey, gray-hair, you need your ears cleaned out or what? I said nobody gets in. Especially you two fucking clowns.
NARRATOR – Vernon takes half a step forward and calmly meets the thug’s eyes.
VERNON ROCHE – Just give Grave one message: “We know about Elżbieta.” I suspect that will make him reconsider.
NARRATOR – For a moment, the cocky grin vanishes from the guard’s face. He quickly glances back at the door, then looks at you again.
DISCERNMENT [Medium: Success] – He knows the name. And clearly, it’s not one people are supposed to say out loud at the entrance.
GRAVE’S THUG – Damn it… Fine. Wait here and behave like good boys.
NARRATOR – You pace nervously back and forth. Vernon, by contrast, looks perfectly calm; more than that, he even begins to smile at whatever is going through his mind. About a minute later, the doorman returns, looking even gloomier than before.
GRAVE’S THUG – You can go in. Boss says you’ve got fifteen minutes. After that, you’re getting thrown out the window face-first.
NARRATOR – In the hall upstairs, you find the same company as before, only this time without the musicians. Grave sits at the head of the table, idly studying an empty shot glass as he turns it between his fingers. Rock slowly chews a piece of meat. The twins sit in silence, Rat nervously picks at a crust of bread, and Rosie watches you with cold curiosity.
GRAVE – Well?.. So you found out about Elżbieta. Congratulations. And what of it?
NARRATOR – Roche says nothing. Without waiting for an invitation, he pulls back the bench beside Rat and sits down at the table as calmly as though he’d come not to a thief-in-law’s den, but to a late supper with an old acquaintance. Then, with a casual motion, he picks up the jug and fills the empty glass.
DOMINANCE [Medium: Success] – A powerful statement: you didn’t come here to beg for an audience, and you have no intention of standing before Grave like servants who’ve done something wrong.
NARRATOR – At first, you consider following your partner’s example, but in the end you stop awkwardly a couple of steps from the table.
VERNON ROCHE – First of all, let’s return to our conversation yesterday. Specifically, to the point where we established that the hanging was merely an attempt to conceal the true cause of death.
NARRATOR – He calmly drains his glass and reaches for a slice of ham.
GRAVE – We didn’t establish shit, Roche. You and that mutant are just spouting bullshit and trying to bluff me, for fuck’s sake!
NARRATOR – Vernon smirks and helps himself to some sauerkraut. You watch him enviously. Apparently, the angrier Grave gets, the better your partner’s appetite becomes.
ROCK – Listen, assholes, if you’re planning to keep playing the same fucking tune as yesterday, you’d better get out now while I’m still in a good mood!
NARRATOR – The bearded man grips the handle of his knife and starts to rise, but Rosie casually tugs at his sleeve.
ROSIE – Easy, Rock. Don’t get worked up. Let’s hear what they’ve come up with first.
NARRATOR – With almost childlike directness, she points at the platter of chicken.
ROSIE – Better cut me a piece. And pour me some more wine — from that jug over there. You know, the tasty one.
NARRATOR – Rock glares at you fiercely for another few seconds, then bursts out laughing and obediently does as he’s told.
ROCK – Wine? In a thimble, maybe! Ha-ha!
NARRATOR – You step a little closer.
YOU – We have a witness.
NARRATOR – For the first time, the thief-in-law turns his attention to you. The empty shot glass goes still between his fingers.
GRAVE – What fucking witness? How do I know you didn’t just pay some idiot to say whatever you told him to?
RESOLVE [Medium: Failure] – Actually, that’s a great idea.
YOU – I’m talking about Karmen. She confessed… Told us what really happened. Confirmed that you moved Lavelle’s body to the vacant lot and staged the hanging to conceal the true circumstances of his death.
NARRATOR – An oppressive silence falls over the table. Only Vernon remains completely unfazed, continuing to sample the food on offer.
RAT – Boss, I mean…
GRAVE – Shut your fucking mouth, kurwa!..
NARRATOR – Rat shrinks down, shoulders hunched. Grave exhales noisily, fills the shot glass with vodka, and knocks it back in one gulp without even reaching for anything to eat.
GRAVE – Yeah. So that’s how it is. Fucking perfect. That whore finally cracked.
NARRATOR – He runs a hand over his bald head several times, then gives a grim smirk.
GRAVE – She’d better stay out of my sight…
VERNON ROCHE – Just so we’re clear, she’s under the protection of the law. Leave her alone.
NARRATOR – A bitter smirk appears on the thief-in-law’s face.
GRAVE – Ah, fuck… Roche, you make me sound like some deranged maniac who reaches for a knife at the slightest excuse.
VERNON ROCHE – Aren’t you?
NARRATOR – Grave pauses for a second, as though the question genuinely deserves serious consideration.
GRAVE – Ha. Maybe so. But first and foremost, I’m a businessman, and another corpse turning up in the neighborhood sure as hell won’t make me any money. So… Nobody’s touching your precious whore. I just said I don’t want to see her. She can FUCK RIGHT OFF!!!
NARRATOR – Janek jumps at the sudden shout, while Rosie clicks her tongue disapprovingly, suggesting that perhaps such strong language was unnecessary.
SENSIBILITY [Challenging: Success] – Strangely enough, he doesn’t seem to be lying about that. He has no use for Karmen anymore — dead or alive. At least, not as long as she doesn’t cause any more trouble.
NARRATOR – The thief-in-law quickly regains his composure.
GRAVE – And what of it, Wolf? Fine, you found out our terrible little secret. So what now? I still have no fucking idea who fired the shot.
YOU – We’d like to know more about Elżbieta and what really happened that night. Hear your version of it.
GRAVE – Fuck it, since it’s all out in the open now… Fine. But when we’re done, you two get the hell out of here and stop showing your faces around us.
NARRATOR – The bandit fills his shot glass again, but this time he doesn’t hurry to drink.
GRAVE – Anyway, this was Thursday night… Anyone remember what time?
ROSIE – Half past midnight. Thursday night into Friday.
GRAVE – Right, that’s it. Rosie’s got a good memory for little details like that, especially since she was the soberest of us… On Thursday, we decided to drop by the Shaggy Bear, talk to people, hear what news and problems they had. You know how it is — if I’m keeping an eye on the district, I need to keep my finger on the pulse, not up my own ass…
NARRATOR – Vernon, who is finishing off a sandwich with considerable appetite, cuts him off before the story can drift into yet another account of all the good Grave’s organization does for the community.
VERNON ROCHE – Your whole group was at the tavern? Elżbieta as well?
GRAVE – Yeah. The whole pack.
SENSIBILITY [Challenging: Success] – An important choice of words. Pack is rough, almost insulting, but there’s no contempt in the way he says it. To Grave, the pack isn’t just a gang, a collection of convenient accomplices, or expendable muscle. They’re his own. His inner circle. The people he curses at and threatens to knock the teeth out of — and still thinks of as something close to family. Because he has no other family.
GRAVE – At some point the door flies open and Karmen comes stumbling in — half-dressed, eyes wild, barely able to keep her legs under her. You could tell right away she’d done a shitload of powder.
NARRATOR – He scratches his nose meaningfully.
GRAVE – She comes over and gives us the fucking wonderful news: Lavelle’s dead. Somebody put a bullet through the idiot’s head right there in her room.
VERNON ROCHE – And then she asked you for help? How did the idea of staging the hanging come about?
GRAVE – Well, Karmen was the one who suggested it. Said something like, why don’t we fucking hang him and cover our tracks. Begged us to make damn sure her name never came up, otherwise… Well, sounds like she’s already told you about her problems, so I won’t go over all that again.
REFLEX [Easy: Success] – Is that so? Now that’s a very interesting contradiction.
YOU – Wait… Karmen came up with the plan? Not Elżbieta?
ROCK – For fuck’s sake, are you hard of hearing or what? Yeah, it was her idea. We all heard her!
YOU – Then she’s even more suspicious than we thought. That woman is nowhere near as simple as she seems. There’s some secret she still hasn’t told us…
JAREK – What?.. What secret?
YOU – I don’t know, but I think Karmen is still playing all of us. You have to understand, I never managed to read her. She may be a professional…
NARRATOR – The bald brute merely waves a hand.
GRAVE – Fuck, well obviously! She’s been working as a courtesan for years!
YOU – Uh, that’s not quite what I meant, but all right… What happened next?
GRAVE – Exactly what I told you yesterday. We took pretty boy by the arms, hauled him out to the yard, tied him up, and strung him up.
VERNON ROCHE – Except that by then he was already dead.
GRAVE – Yeah. Except for that insignificant little detail.
ROSIE – Elżbieta helped. Nobody felt like climbing a tree in the dark, so she lifted the body with magic and tossed the rope over a branch.
JANEK – And then Rat went off to scrub the room… You know, where Karmen does her whoring… Wiped up the blood, collected the bottles, all that shit. Just in case.
NARRATOR – Vernon nods thoughtfully and pops a fried mushroom into his mouth.
VERNON ROCHE – Could you tell us more about Elżbieta Nox?
NARRATOR – Rosie answers with unexpected hostility.
ROSIE – Why? What does she have to do with any of this?
VERNON ROCHE – We have a theory that your sorceress may have been the one who committed the murder. She could have slipped out to the vacant lot, climbed onto the shed, from which the room’s window is clearly visible, shot Bastien — perhaps using magic — and then quickly returned.
GRAVE – Ha! By that logic, Roche, you could blame any one of us. Or the Wolf, for that matter. Maybe he was crawling around in some garbage pit that night, then decided to whack somebody just for fun. Gulped down a few of those potions of his and went off raising hell…
STEADINESS [Medium: Failure] – Didn’t we already establish that the detective couldn’t have been the killer? Or did we?..
VICE [Easy: Success] – Well, you did go off raising hell. Just on a different day.
VERNON ROCHE – As we’ve established, Elżbieta and Karmen were… involved. Jealousy may have been the motive.
GRAVE – Huh?! What the fuck do you mean, involved? What are you getting at?
NARRATOR – The gnome rolls her eyes.
ROSIE – They were sleeping together, boss. It’s… girl stuff.
NARRATOR – Grave knocks back another shot and bites into a pickled cucumber.
GRAVE – Fuck me, this just keeps getting better… So what, you think Elżbieta got jealous of that slut and decided to get revenge by killing her lover?
VERNON ROCHE – It’s a possibility.
GRAVE – Sounds doubtful. The sorceress was with us the whole evening.
ROSIE – That’s right. We played a few rounds of Gwent and talked in between.
YOU – She never stepped away at all? Surely pani Nox must have gone to the privy at least once…
MASQUE [Easy: Failure] – Maestro, you know perfectly well that beautiful ladies do no such thing. They merely retire from time to time on mysterious feminine business… To powder their noses, for instance.
ROCK – Maybe she did. But I didn’t hear any shots.
GRAVE – Neither did I! Quiet as the fucking… grave all night. So yeah, something about your theory doesn’t add up, assholes.
VERNON ROCHE – That’s easily explained. She may have used magic to muffle the sound of the shot. Besides, we don’t even know what the shot was fired from, or how.
GRAVE – You’re making shit up again, Roche. It could’ve been fucking anything!.. Anyway, this whole conversation is starting to get on my nerves.
JAREK – Yeah, we’re all fucking sick of your stupid questions.
NARRATOR – Grave nods in agreement.
GRAVE – Exactly. I think it’s time you two got the hell out while you still can. Don’t push your luck.
YOU – But this could help us solve the case! We need to know where Elżbieta is now. If she’s innocent, no one will hurt her.
MASQUE [Challenging: Failure] – That sounded extremely unconvincing, maestro. I don’t believe you.
ROSIE – The same way you didn’t hurt Renfri the Shrike?
NARRATOR – The smile vanishes from Rosie’s face. For the first time since you’ve known her, there’s nothing left of the laughing gnome who can turn any threat into a joke.
YOU – But I…
ROSIE – Don’t bother explaining. I already know everything I need to know. You cut her down in cold blood in the middle of Blaviken. A girl who was branded cursed from birth, driven from her own home, and nearly killed more than once. No king ordered it. No court passed judgment. You decided for yourself that she was an evil that could be destroyed for the greater good.
NARRATOR – She leans forward and looks you straight in the eye.
ROSIE – Why should we believe you won’t do exactly the same thing to Elżbieta? She’s my friend. And I won’t let you do to her what you did to Renfri.
UMBRA [Challenging: Failure] – You have absolutely nothing to say in your defense. Who was this Renfri? A victim? A dangerous renegade? And what were you — nothing more than a cold-blooded killer?
DOMINANCE [Medium: Failure] – They don’t take you seriously. You need to assert your authority… But how? Perhaps put a sword to your own throat and threaten to cut it? Or stamp your feet?
ELOQUENCE [Medium: Success] – No need for anything like that. Just remind them that this isn’t only — or even primarily — about the sorceress.
YOU – Rosie, listen… This isn’t just about Elżbieta. Dozens of people in this district could die. That includes all of you. Bastien’s brother has sworn revenge on Grave because he believes he’s responsible.
ROCK – Pff. Is that supposed to scare me? You know how many peacocks like him we’ve seen making grand fucking vows? And where are they now?!
NARRATOR – Rat gives a nasty little smirk.
RAT – Last one like that I saw was floating belly-up down the old sewer canal last week. Reckon he’s made it to the lake by now.
BOND OF STEEL [Challenging: Success] – Somewhere by the old sewer canal, guardsmen Jurajda and Janusz stand on the wet stones with identical looks of misery, watching a bloated corpse slowly drift past.
JANUSZ – Hey, Jurajda… Think we should fish him out?
JURAJDA – Kurwa, are you out of your mind? I’m not going in there!
JANUSZ – But it’s a body…
JURAJDA – Exactly. A body. In a sewer canal. If you want to drag it out, be my guest. I’m not catching every disease from Vizima to Mahakam over some dead man who’s clearly in no hurry.
NARRATOR – The corpse lazily rolls over in the murky water and continues its mournful journey.
JANUSZ – What if someone asks?
JURAJDA – Who’s going to ask?! Give it another half hour and it won’t even be in our jurisdiction anymore.
JANUSZ – Whose jurisdiction will it be?
JURAJDA – Oh, for fuck’s sake… I don’t know. The lake’s. Come on, let’s get out of here.
YOU – He’s a knight-captain of the Order of the Chalice, and he’ll come here with an entire detachment!
GRAVE – Ha! There can’t be more than fifteen of those Chalice boys in all of Vizima! How many are they gonna bring? Half of them, at best? We’ve got nearly sixty men here.
JANEK – Let ’em try! We’ve dealt with worse.
VERNON ROCHE – They’re experienced warriors in full plate, and not every arrow can pierce that armor. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about: even five or six well-trained knights could cause you a great deal of trouble.
DIALECTIC [Medium: Success] – In these narrow streets, Grave’s advantage in numbers may not be nearly as decisive as he thinks.
VERNON ROCHE – We’re not trying to frighten you. We’re genuinely concerned about the civilians here who have no way to defend themselves. We cannot allow a bloodbath to break out in the district.
ROSIE – “Genuinely concerned”? Or are you just following orders? I’m sure you wouldn’t give a damn about the people here otherwise. Unlike us.
DIALECTIC [Challenging: Success] – Clever. Rosie replaces a question of consequences with one of motives. An almost academic trick: take the other person’s argument, turn it sideways, and force them to defend not the point itself, but their own moral character. At Oxenfurt, I believe they call that argumentum ad hominem. Strip away the fancy wrapping, though, and in this case it’s simply demagoguery.
YOU – I don’t think that matters at all.
ROSIE – Doesn’t it?
YOU – If Grave’s organization really does care about the people of the Temple Quarter, then any help should be welcome. It doesn’t matter whether we’re following orders or our conscience. What matters is keeping the people here safe.
GRAVE – God damn you…
NARRATOR – Grave exchanges a look with Rosie. She shrugs and gives a brief nod.
GRAVE – Don’t get the idea I’m scared of those piss-soaked Chalice boys. But you’re right about one thing: nobody fucking needs a bloodbath in the Temple Quarter. It’d be bad for business too, when you get right down to it…
YOU – So you are going to tell us…
GRAVE – No. I’m not. Because there isn’t much to tell. But I can tell you this much.
NARRATOR – Vernon raises an eyebrow.
GRAVE – Nox… disappeared. Friday evening, she just fucking vanished. No belongings, no note — nothing.
YOU – Wait. So Elżbieta ran off, and you haven’t seen her since? That’s extremely suspicious. Any idea where she might be?
GRAVE – Wolf, are you actually stupid or what? No, I haven’t got a fucking clue where that damn sorceress went. And even if I did… you think I’d tell you exactly where to find her? I’ll tell you one thing — she was scared shitless when word got around that you were the one who’d shown up in the Temple Quarter.
NARRATOR – He points a finger straight ahead.
KEEN EYE [Trivial: Failure] – Who’s he pointing at? Roche? The finger is aimed almost directly at him. Probably.
YOU – Uh, so she was afraid of Vernon?
GRAVE – For fuck’s sake, are you blind or what?! Quit pissing me off! I’m talking about you, Wolf. When Elżbieta heard that the investigation was being handled by the witcher known as the Butcher of Blaviken, she got seriously nervous. Why, I don’t know, but I suspect Rosie was right to bring up Renfri. Anyway, first chance she got, the bitch bolted.
VERNON ROCHE – All right. One last thing: what does pani Nox look like? Is she human?
GRAVE – Half-elf. Shorter than Karmen…
ROCK – …But taller than Rosie. Heh-heh.
GRAVE – Shut it, Rock. Looks about thirty, though with pointy-ears it’s hard to tell. Dyes her hair black — naturally it’s light brown, I think. Lately all the local girls have gotten into this weird habit of buying all kinds of cosmetic crap from Kalkstein. Gray eyes, mole on her right cheek. Gloomy sort. Doesn’t say much. Looks at you like she already knows what stupid thing you’re about to say.
NARRATOR – Rosie gives a barely perceptible smirk. Apparently, the description was pretty accurate. Grave slams his fist down on the table. Rat hurriedly catches a pickle as it rolls away.
GRAVE – So, you idiots, go easy on her. She had nothing to do with this.
VERNON ROCHE – What makes you so certain?
GRAVE – Fuck, because I know her!!! So if you throw her in prison on some bullshit charge…
NARRATOR – He slowly shifts his gaze from Roche to you.
GRAVE – …I swear by the gods, you’ll fucking regret it.
BRAWN [Medium: Success] – Right now, the thief-in-law is the least of your worries. The one you should fear is a renegade sorceress who can kill a man before he even realizes the fight has begun.
YOU – And is she… dangerous? How powerful is Elżbieta?
JANEK – Powerful enough to turn you into a pile of ash, asshole.
GRAVE – Damn right. She’s helped us with plenty of things, but none of that concerns you idiots… I’ve seen her in action a few times, and I can tell you this much: if it comes to it, Elżbieta won’t hesitate to kill anyone who gets too pushy.
STEADINESS [Medium: Failure] – You know, I think this might be a good time to call in reinforcements. Hire some witch hunters or someone like that.
CODEX [Challenging: Success] – I assure you, you do not want anything to do with those lunatics under any circumstances. We’ll have to manage on our own.
RAT – And she made these wards too. Sort of like alarm devices… Except if you trigger one, it doesn’t just warn the owner — it also paralyzes whoever stuck their nose where it didn’t belong. We were thinking of putting a few of those in the laboratories.
VERNON ROCHE – How are they triggered?
RAT – Hell if I know. Step in the wrong place, touch the wrong thing — and then flash, bang…
STEADINESS – This keeps sounding worse and worse. Maybe there are some normal witch hunters out there?
CODEX – No. Normal witch hunters do not exist. Such a thing is every bit as impossible as an incorruptible guard captain in a poor district, an honest moneylender, or a sober cobbler who doesn’t talk politics while mending your shoe.
GRAVE – Anyway, she’s no fairground trickster pulling stupid crap out of a hat for three coppers. You’ve been warned, so don’t come crying to us if something happens.
NARRATOR – A pause follows. From downstairs comes a burst of exceptionally inventive swearing. No one at the table even turns their head.
GRAVE – Now are you finally going to fuck off and let us eat in peace?! Just looking at your faces is ruining my appetite.
NARRATOR – Vernon takes his time finishing the last slice of ham, drains his glass with evident satisfaction, and rises from the table. Rat hurriedly shifts aside to clear the way.
VERNON ROCHE – In that case, that’s all. Thank you for your assistance.
GRAVE – You can shove your thanks up your ass, Roche.
NARRATOR – Vernon responds with a courteous nod, and the two of you leave the hall. Outside, a quiet night and cool wind await you.
YOU – Do you think he was telling the truth?
VERNON ROCHE – I think he told us exactly as much of the truth as suited him.
DIALECTIC [Medium: Success] – Still, he confirmed at least part of Karmen’s story.
NARRATOR – Vernon adjusts his turban, casts one last glance at the lit windows of the den, and nods toward the square.
VERNON ROCHE – Come. We need a proper night’s sleep.
NARRATOR – You walk away down the dark street. Somewhere in the wind, a sign creaks. From an open window across the street comes the sound of a quiet lullaby, while around the corner an unseen cat meows. Vizima sleeps uneasily, as though already tormented by the nightmares of tomorrow.